Stephen D. Cannnerelli / The Post-StandardScott Perkins of the Seneca Cayuga ARC works a manufacturing line at G.W. Lisk in Clifton Springs. Perkins puts together a piston assembly.

Clifton Springs, NY - Tyler Jesmer grabbed two silver parts from a tray on the manufacturing line at G.W. Lisk Co. Inc. and swished a small sponge on a stick dipped in oil inside the parts.

Wearing blue gloves to protect her hands from the oily part, Jesmer, 24, of Waterloo, used another tool to push brass rings inside the parts that will eventually become valves for a diesel engine.

Jesmer is like many people who work in factories in Central New York. She comes to work at 8:30 a.m. and leaves at 2 p.m., taking breaks in-between to eat lunch and relax with colleagues.

What sets Jesmer apart is her job. She’s one of the few people with developmental disabilities in New York who work on a factory floor. She’s part of a group of about 18 people from Seneca Cayuga ARC who work on the assembly line at G.W. Lisk in Clifton Springs.

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month.

For decades, companies have been willing to hire people with developmental disabilities to wash dishes, wipe down tables and sweep floors or to send assembly work to centers that employ them away from the rest of the workforce. But very few actually employ them on the factory floor, next to the rest of the workers.

Stephen D. Cannerelli / The Post-StandardDave Wagner of the Seneca Cayuga ARC packages products to be shipped from G.W. Lisk in Clifton Springs.

“In the manufacturing setting, it doesn’t happen very often,” said Fred Zaiko, director of Monarch Enterprises, the employment arm of Arc of Onondaga, the largest provider of services to people with developmental disabilities in Onondaga County. Monarch does not currently have any people working in a factory setting, he said.

Of the 9,825 developmentally disabled people working in New York, just 7 percent work in factories, according to the New York State Office for People with Developmental Disabilities. The vast majority of developmentally disabled people who work in the community do so in service or clerical positions, according to the office.

The figures do not count the number of people who work in segregated centers in what used to be called sheltered workshops.

Ideally, society should provide people with developmental disabilities with a range of employment opportunities — from segregated centers, enclaves or on their own — based on their abilities, said Courtney Burke, commissioner of the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities.

The office will soon announce that it has received a grant to increase employment among people with developmental disabilities, with a goal of 20,000 employed, she said.

There are 126,000 developmentally disabled people in the system, said Travis Proulx, the office’s communications director.

Stephen D. Cannerrelli / The Post-StandardCheryl Bidwell of the Seneca Cayuga ARC works on snap rings at G.W. Lisk in Clifton Springs.

Lisk employs 500 people at its Ontario County factory tucked away off South Street in Clifton Springs. The company makes valve parts for heavy-duty diesel engines and solenoids for military and commercial aircraft.

About 50 people who work on the assembly lines are members of enclaves of workers from the Ontario, Wayne or Seneca Cayuga ARCs, said Matthew Strub, Lisk’s production manager in valve products.

The arrangement is much like a temporary service. The company pays the ARCs to provide them with workers and does not pay them benefits, he said.

In every other way, the company treats the ARC workers like the rest of the staff. They receive a company Christmas bonus and take part in the annual employee recognition summer picnic, Strub said.

“The jobs they do are the same jobs I have my people do,” he said.

Entry-level workers at Lisk earn about $9 an hour, Strub said.

Seneca Cayuga ARC pays the 17 or 18 people who work at Lisk based on the company’s prevailing wage, productivity and the number of pieces they produce, said Maggie Mahoney, an ARC employment supervisor at Lisk.

The ARC has a certificate from the state Department of Labor that allows it to pay workers less than minimum wage based on their ability, said Kevin Spillane, the agency’s director of business operations. The agency pays workers at Lisk from $5.65 per hour to $10.10 an hour, he said.

In addition to their wages, many also receive Social Security Disability or Supplemental Security Income and Medicaid, said Kevin Smith, executive director of Seneca Cayuga ARC.

The arrangement with the ARCs “gives us a small cost advantage,” Strub said. Lisk is a privately held company that doesn’t publicly discuss its sales figures, he said.

Companies that hire workers with developmental dis-
abilities receive federal or state tax credits for wages paid in the first two years for people who work at least 400 hours annually, according to the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities.

Companies are also reimbursed for 100 percent of the wages paid for up to a month to try out a worker’s job performance, and for up to three months, on a sliding scale, while a worker is trained on the job.

Strub heaps praise on the ARC workers. They’re dedicated to their jobs, show up on time, and are willing to do whatever the company asks of them, he said.

Lisk’s relationship with its developmentally disabled workers began in the 1980s when the company sent assembly work to what was then known as a sheltered workshop. The Ontario ARC suggested that its workers perform the jobs at the factory instead, Strub said.

Having the ARC workforce at the factory provides the company with parts in a timely manner, and it means Lisk can act quickly when quality issues arise, he said.

Workers from the Seneca Cayuga ARC arrived in about 2000 to work on the valve line, Mahoney said. The workforce has grown from six people with a supervisor, to 18 people with two supervisors, she said.

Lisk has recently agreed to move some production equipment to the Seneca Cayuga ARC’s learning center in Auburn, said Joanne Vacca, marketing and sales manager for Seneca Cayuga Industries. The agreement will provide work for about 10 people from the center, she said.

The ARC people who work on Lisk’s factory floor are highly skilled, operating sophisticated equipment and punch presses, their supervisors said. And they’re expected to make quality products.

“They expect us to do our job and do it right. They don’t lower the expectations for us,” said Wally Cooper, a senior supervisor for Seneca Cayuga ARC.

Workers who spoke with a reporter Wednesday were nonchalant about their jobs.

“The jobs are fairly easy and the pay is decent,” said Brad Ames, 29, of Waterloo, as he put together parts for a fuel injector for an engine.

“It ain’t bad,” said Ron Merkley, 44, of Seneca Falls, who works at Lisk and has a second job doing lawn care. “Somebody’s got to do it.”

Not everyone can become a factory worker. Some people didn’t work out at Lisk and returned to the ARC learning center for training for other jobs, Cooper said.

Ideally, ARC workers will eventually become good enough at their jobs that Lisk will hire them to work for the company, Mahoney said. It’s a goal everyone is working toward, she said.

The relationship is good for companies, workers with disabilities and the economy, said Ceylane Meyers-Ruff, director of employment opportunities at the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities.

People who work eventually “want to get their own apartment. They learn how to drive and go on trips,” she said. “They’re spending the money that they’re earning and helping the economy. Not unlike what happens when anyone else has a job.”